Cardiff or Heriot Watt for Mechanical Engineering?

They're pretty much been ranked the same for the past few years. Though, before, Cardiff was ranked slightly better. Cardiff typically offers AAA and Heriot Watt typically offers BBB. Why is there such a difference in entry requirements despite being similarly ranked?

I've read that HW has quite a high percentage of their graduates are quite successful and have jobs in the energy sector pretty early, so it's quite tempting to go there for me. I'm just concerned with the reason as to why there's such a large entry requirement gap.

They're pretty much been ranked the same for the past few years. Though, before, Cardiff was ranked slightly better. Cardiff typically offers AAA and Heriot Watt typically offers BBB. Why is there such a difference in entry requirements despite being similarly ranked?

I've read that HW has quite a high percentage of their graduates are quite successful and have jobs in the energy sector pretty early, so it's quite tempting to go there for me. I'm just concerned with the reason as to why there's such a large entry requirement gap.

Whilst they have similar rankings for Mech Eng, Cardiff is quite a bit higher in the general rankings

Heriot Watt if you want to work in energy, particularly oil & gas. I'm in that sector and a huge percentage of graduates are recruited from there - it's one of the key targets for the industry.

Why are you concerned about the entry requirements gap? Heriot Watt will primarily set its entry requirements on highers, not A-levels, and its course has an extra year, with the first year starting at a lower level than Cardiff's.

Would you happen to know why graduates from HW are targeted by the energy sector? It just seems that it would make sense to recruit someone from Cardiff university if I were to judge solely on entry requirements.

By highers, are you referring to the qualification that they do in Scotland? Sorry, I'm not very familiar with Scotland in general.

Does HW tend to offer places to Scottish students more than English and Welsh students?

Ahh, okay. It just sounded like they prefer Scottish students since you said that they primarily set their targets on highers. Thank you for your reply.